Sixteen Kingdoms: Jin Xiaowudi, age 10, succeeds his father Jin Jianwendi as Emperor of the Eastern Jin dynasty.
Emperor Jianwen of Jin (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Jn Jinwn D; WadeGiles: Chin Chien-wen-ti; 320 September 12, 372), personal name Sima Yu (), courtesy name Daowan (), was an emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (266-420) in China. He was the younger brother of Emperor Ming and installed by military leader Huan Wen. Prior to taking the throne, he had served in important roles in the administrations of his grandnephews Emperor Mu, Emperor Ai, and Emperor Fei. Both in his service to his grandnephews and in his own reign as emperor, he is generally viewed as a weak-willed figure who showed enough wisdom to continue to survive and extend Jin rule, but whose effectiveness was also compromised by his over-dedication to philosophical discussions of Taoism and other related philosophies.
The Sixteen Kingdoms (simplified Chinese: 十六国; traditional Chinese: 十六國; pinyin: Shíliù Guó), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when the political order of northern China fractured into a series of short-lived dynastic states, most of which were founded by the "Five Barbarians", non-Han peoples who had settled in northern and western China during the preceding centuries and participated in the overthrow of the Western Jin dynasty in the early 4th century. The kingdoms founded by ethnic Xiongnu, Xianbei, Di, Jie, Qiang, as well as Han and other ethnicities, took on Chinese dynastic names, and fought against one another and the Eastern Jin dynasty, which succeeded the Western Jin and ruled southern China. The period ended with the unification of northern China in the early 5th century by the Northern Wei, a dynasty established by the Xianbei Tuoba clan, and the history of ancient China entered the Northern and Southern dynasties period.
The term "Sixteen Kingdoms" was first used by the 6th-century historian Cui Hong in the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Sixteen Kingdoms and refers to the five Liangs (Former, Later, Northern, Southern and Western), four Yans (Former, Later, Northern, and Southern), three Qins (Former, Later and Western), two Zhaos (Former and Later), Cheng Han and Xia. Cui Hong did not count several other kingdoms that appeared at the time including the Ran Wei, Zhai Wei, Chouchi, Duan Qi, Qiao Shu, Huan Chu, Tuyuhun and Western Yan. Nor did he include the Northern Wei and its predecessor Dai, because the Northern Wei is considered to be the first of the Northern Dynasties in the period that followed the Sixteen Kingdoms.
Classical Chinese historians called the period the "Sixteen Kingdoms of the Five Barbarians" (simplified Chinese: 五胡十六国; traditional Chinese: 五胡十六國; pinyin: Wǔhú Shíliù Guó) because of the active roles played by non-Han ethnicities during this period. Among the handful of the states founded by ethnic Han (Former Liang, Western Liang, Ran Wei and Northern Yan), several founders had close relations with ethnic minorities. The father of Ran Min, the founder of the Ran Wei, was adopted into a Jie ruling family. Feng Ba, who is considered by some historians to be the founder of the Northern Yan, had been assimilated into Xianbei culture. Gao Yun, considered by other historians to be the Northern Yan founder, was a member of the Goguryeo royal family who had been adopted by Xianbei nobility.
Due to fierce competition among the states and internal political instability, the kingdoms of this era were mostly short-lived. For seven years from 376 to 383, the Former Qin briefly unified northern China, but its collapse following the Battle of Fei River in 383 led to even greater political fragmentation with as many as seven states vying for supremacy and survival in northern China at the same time. The collapse of the Western Jin dynasty and the rise of barbarian regimes in China during the Sixteen Kingdoms resembles the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire amidst invasions by the Huns and Germanic tribes in Europe, which also occurred in the 4th to 5th centuries.